Blogs You May Not Know About

I often write about specific posts that I enjoyed reading, but I thought today I would highlight a few blogs that I frequent. I don't think these blogs have hit major-celebrity status yet (ala SouleMama or Dooce) but they are a few of my must-reads. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

• Without Filters by Monica - I discovered Monica's blog when we took Library of Memories together at Big Picture Scrapbooking in 2008. She writes about motherhood, scrapbooking, photography and sometimes a little quilting. She's so talented and I enjoy cheering her success.
• Capture The Memories by April - I found April through Library of Memories in 2007, I think. April also writes about scrapbooking, photography, and motherhood and I enjoy her persepctive.
• What Do We Do All Day? by Mom and Kiddo - A friend of mine suggested Mom's blog and I enjoy reading about her activities with her son. Her life in Brooklyn is so different than mine in Kentucky and yet it's fun to see the similarities between us.
• The Breeder Files by Breedermama - Breedermama writes about motherhood, writing, and crafting, among other things. She has a fresh voice that I admire.
• A Mountain Mama by Kelli - Kelli inspires me as a mother and I enjoy reading her positive outlook even when she's struggling. Also, her lifestyle reminds me so much of the way I was raised, and I love visiting her mountain home.
• Dou-la-la by Anne - Anne writes about birth, breastfeeding and motherhood. Her blog advocates being educated about your options, and I'm passionate about that. Just a warning, though, sometimes she has graphic childbirth photos posted. They don't bother me, but I wanted to make sure you knew.
• UK Lass In US by Dawn - Dawn writes about sewing, knitting, and other crafts she does for herself and her kids. She also usually posts English to American translations which I really get a kick out of. (I recently learned that peckish means "a wee bit hungry" and I feel better for it.)
• The Artist, The Mom by Angela - Angela is a Waldorf handwork teacher, so you know her blog is filled with crafty fun. She is gentle and calm, and her posts make me stop and consider.

Please consider visiting these ladies to see for yourself and tell them I said hi!

How to Get Over a Funk

As I've mentioned previously, fall is my general funk time of year. I wish I meant funk in the "I'm so funky" good way, but no. So what do I do to break out of this funk?

• Put on feel-better music. For me, this is usually REM. My favorite album of ALL time is Automatic for the People and I'm not lying when I say that I have at times listened to this album all day long for weeks. So maybe it doesn't get me out of my funk, but it does help me get through it. (I also listened to it while I was in labor and I think it kept me from killing my husband for hitting every single bump in the road during the forty-five minute drive. Really, he was perfect that morning, but the road was awful.)
• Play dancing music. I really really like crunk when I need a lift. You know, Lil' John, "Get Low," "Yeah" (Usher). I recently discovered that crunk is based in Atlanta hip-hop (give me a break, I haven't lived in Georgia for ten years), so that may kinda explain it. Unfortunately, most crunk is not acceptable music for a two year old. Although she does enjoy listening to the Black Eyed Peas with me, and they're close enough.
• Coloring or painting. There's just something about picking up art supplies and getting lost in creating for no reason. I had a lot of coloring books in my early twenties because I didn't have to think much while I followed the lines someone else had put there. Now, I kind of like to doodle on plain paper in part because I don't want Abigail to feel obligated by coloring books yet.
• Changing direction. Getting focused on something new can help so much to lift my spirits. I spent much of October feeling great because I was in a different setting (and so much of it was at the beach). I tried to keep my focus once we got home, and Heather deciding to visit has definitely helped. I am so focused on making sure we're ready for her visit that I'm not thinking about anything else! Of course, that also means fun home stuff is getting put aside too. That's ok. We'll be ready by tomorrow night!
• Looking through old photos. Remembering the good memories. And remembering some bad. And remembering that Mama always said "This too shall pass" and it always did. And remembering that one time that she didn't say it, and I survived that too. Ali's Yesterday + Today has been really good for me this year.

Of course, I'm focusing here on the getting-out-of, not the getting-through-and-getting-by. That's for another day.

Handmade Home

I received my copy of Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule in mid August. I've been meaning to write about how much I love it, but instead I decided to do some crafting from it.

I really wanted to make the picnic blanket as my first project. I had kind of hoped that it would be similar to the picnic blanket that she posted on her blog long long ago, but it really wasn't. The one I remembered had pockets on the back to put rocks in so as to hold the blanket down in a breeze. The new blanket uses quilt binding for the edges and then they are used as ties for the whole blanket. It sounded like a great idea, but I have little patience right now for binding.

So instead, I combined the top of the picnic blanket from Handmade Home with the backing from this picnic blanket designed by Erin from House on Hill Road.

Here, you see one of the pockets on the back. Three are from one pattern and one doesn't match. I had a reason for that, but I don't remember what it was. I'm sure it could just be chalked up to my general orneriness with following directions.

My backing is just a flat sheet that I cut to size (60" x 60"). Amanda's pattern calls for a bed spread, but I didn't have one on hand, and I did have a small collection of flat sheets I'd been collecting from thift stores with Amanda's books in mind.

My hubby isn't crazy about the patterns and asked if I sure of the decade, but I like the retro feel. Some of the sheets are nicer than others and have better thread counts, but I don't think it's that big of an issue.

We've already used this at the zoo, the beach and in our front yard. I'm looking forward to all the memories we'll create with it as a backdrop.

Goals and Ambitions

I have been thinking lately about goals (and not just because it's prompt #6 for the class). I mentioned my to-do list last week - goals for the day. I haven't made a list in several days because I felt so defeated by them each day. Even marking things off wasn't helping.

That's weird, too, because usually crossing things off your list is a sign of accomplishment. I remember in college one semester I had to take a bunch of incompletes (I didn't finish the classes until after the next term started). I had a major life event, and couldn't concentrate, and ended up only finishing one class. So when the next semester started, I had not only my full load of classes for the semester, but a near full load to finish from the previous semester. The only way I made it through was to break each task into tiny bits and write down every step I had to do. My to-do list was four or five pages long. And I got it all done. (My advice is to NOT take that many incompletes, though, no matter what you have to do.)

I have so many things I need and want to accomplish and I have a hard time remembering that I don't have to live my whole life right this minute. Does that make sense? I start thinking, "I have this goal and I haven't done it yet and I'm already in my mid-thirties!"

Um, yeah. I'm in my mid-thirties. That's really not that old. But since I've lost close friends who never made it to thirty, I still feel this sense of urgency at times.

My current goals are:

1. finish cleaning my house for a visit with Heather this weekend (yes, that Heather)
2. finish the dozen or more unfinished scrapbooks and quilts and various sewing projects I have in my craft room
3. have scheduled daily craft time with Abigail
4. exercise
5. finish layouts for the Yesterday + Today class so I can post them
6. learn how to use a unique blog template that has some Fun Mama personality
7. Write. Seriously write. It's time.

Well, my house needs to be ready for my friend and her two toddlers by Thursday evening. My house is toddler friendly for my child, but you know how you're never sure if other people will be ok with your house? Seriously, Heather used to help me clean my room. You'd think I'd know better. . .

I can't decide if I want to finish Abigail's first year album, our St. Augustine album, our honeymoon album, my 30th birthday album, a quilt I started ten years ago, or scrap all of that and start on Christmas presents. As if I'll finish anything I start in the middle of November. Maybe I should finish some Christmas presents from last year?

I know I talk a lot about doing stuff with your kids, and we do. We do play dough. We draw. We play with blocks. We paint. We do a lot. But it feels haphazard and I'd really like to be able to tell her "This is what we're doing today." I'm considering doing it as an advent calendar this year. I really want to have a craft calendar in place by January, at least.

Exercise. Bleh. I do feel better when I exercise, but then I feel like I should be doing something else. I started reading The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd as my exercise bike book (only allowed to read it there) but that's not working. I recorded a bunch of Ellen shows on my tivo so I can watch them while I'm biking. I used to watch Angel or The X-files while I biked because they kept me tense and involved (and made me forget it was painful) but they are SO not appropriate for a two year old. I guess I'd better get some walks in before the weather turns.

My Yesterday + Today layouts are actually going fairly well. I have pictures printed for two of them (we're on week 6), and the journaling done for one. Actually, one page is almost completely done. One problem I'm having is that I haven't scanned as many of my childhood photos as I really need, and another problem is that I really want to use the digital elements and can't figure them out. I keep forgetting to ask my husband to remind me how to unzip files. How basic is that?

One thing I'm hoping to pick up from Blogging for Scrapbookers is how to make my blog look more like Fun Mama and less like a basic blogger template. I see so many cool photos in banners and I have NO idea how to do that. I hope to pick that up soon.

And as for writing. . .All I've ever really wanted to do is write. So I've been an archivist, a tour guide, an event planner, a paper pusher, a mail deliverer (don't ask), a staffing specialist and a mommy. Ok, so all I ever really wanted to do was write and be a mommy. For a year I wrote a column for an online scrapbooking magazine and I really enjoyed it, but I didn't go anywhere with it. I'm not sure that now is the right time, because I am being a mommy all day long. I love it, but I can't help but think that when I'm home and she's at this magic age might be the best time for me to focus on writing. I'm not sure how I'll work it out, but I am committing to it publicly. Wish me luck.

Heather's tote bag

My dear friend Heather had surgery in August. We've been friends since we were seven years old, and trust me when I say that's been a long time and that we've been through a lot together. We've had fights that completely embarrass me now.

And she's been there for me when I couldn't have even thought to ask. Seriously. The morning after the worst night of my life, I woke up to her sitting beside me on the bed. She found out about my personal tragedy on her way to work, and came to my house to make sure I was ok. That's loyalty.

So when I found out she was having surgery and I knew I couldn't be there since we live 400 miles apart right now, I wanted to do something special for her instead. I decided that she might actually get the chance to read a few books and enjoy a few treats while she was resting, and that a nice tote bag to hold it all in was a worthy gift. Unfortunately, I am not as good as she is and didn't get it to her in time.

Hopefully, the yumminess of the bag makes up for my slackness. I wanted something that said "Heather" to me, and this blue and the dots and the flowers did it for me.

Actually, I think I want one for myself.

The pattern is the tote bag from Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol. The pattern calls for a panel of a striking pattern with a matching inside pocket, but when I got finished my husband thought it looked better inside out. I think I agree. The pocket does kind of pop.

Fall In Georgia

I love fall in Georgia. The air is crisp, the sky is blue (usually, it was raining on this day), and the leaves are turning. This is the pond behind my parents' house - a view I experienced nearly every day of my life. I took this picture in October when I was visiting.

Pumpkin bread

Have you ever had a recipe not turn out the way you'd hoped? I've been baking since I was about nine years old, and I've had my share of adventures. There was the time that I accidentally made pink oatmeal cookies that one of my brothers loves to bring up. (Is it my fault the red food coloring and the vanilla looked the same?) He says his friends at school still thought they tasted good, so all was not lost.

Many of my mishaps have been because I had oven complications, like not being familiar with a new oven, electric over gas, or glass instead of metal. These things happen.

So for Halloween, I decided that I wanted to make pumpkin bread to take to my sister-in-law's house where we were going for dinner and trick-or-treating. I don't remember ever making it before, even though I love it, and I couldn't find my Mama's recipe. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure where her recipe was either, so I decided to look online for a new one. I found several but most of them didn't call for any spice and I felt like there should at least be cinnamon and nutmeg.

Finally, I found a recipe called Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread. I don't know a lot about Maine, but since I discovered SouleMama it has a romantic draw for me, so I thought I'd give it a shot. The recipe called for all of the spices I thought it should have (cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg). There were a lot of good reviews. I had all the ingredients. I was set.

My first mistake was in not printing the recipe. Instead, I kept crossing the kitchen to check the recipe from my laptop. My second mistake was not waiting until my husband got home from work. Baking with a recipe I'm familiar with can be challenging when Abigail wants my attention - a recipe I've never used before was giving me fits. Then I couldn't remember where we'd put our ground ginger or the whole nutmeg. Finally I located those in the very top and back of our baking cabinet. Then I realized that we only have glass bread pans, not metal ones. And the recipe calls for 3 small pans and I only had two large ones. Then I only greased the pan before adding the batter instead of greasing and flouring.

The recipe calls for the bread to be baked for 50 minutes or until done by the knife test. After 50 minutes, I remembered (was reminded, actually) that if you use glass pans, you should lower the temperature and bake longer. So I lowered the temp and kept checking. For another half hour. Finally, the bread seemed like it might be done and I took it out.

When I cut into it, the bread seemed more like a pudding than a bread. It was so dense and thick. It didn't have the light, airy texture I was expecting at all. Oh well, I thought, a bum recipe. Better luck next time. I made some ginger cream cheese to top the bread and all was well.

Over the next few days, I thought about my mistake. Next time, I could use a different recipe (Alton Brown's looks good, but calls for fresh pumpkin). Maybe I could use a bundt pan instead of bread pans. Fresh ginger instead of ground might be nice (or both). I had used Saigon cinnamon (which is hot like cinnamon candy) but the flavor didn't come through, maybe I could use more of that. I just knew a different recipe would have the bread texture I was looking for.

On Monday, I stopped by the neighborhood grocery on the way home from sewing group to pick up some milk, and decided to grab another can of pumpkin so I could try again. That's when I noticed.

When I was buying my ingredients before Halloween, I knew I needed 15 ounces of pumpkin. It sounded like a lot, so I grabbed the largest can. On Monday when I was buying more, I actually looked at the can. The large can has about 29 ounces of pumpkin.

That's right. I used a 29 ounce can of pumpkin for a recipe that called for 15 ounces. None of my excuses worked anymore. It was just flat out careless of me. How I've managed to buy canned fruit for pies all this time, I don't know. Maybe I usually look? At least now I know why my bread was a pudding.

Extra pumpkin makes it more healthy though, right? Right?

(edited to add: This post is for the prompt for day four of Blogging for Scrapbookers, although I probably would have shared this story anyway.)

Five Magazines I'm Enjoying

I am a reader. I love to read almost anything, and I have this tendency to have to read everything if I see it. I read headlines in the grocery line. I read cereal boxes. I read memos upside down. I am not trying to pry or be nosy. I just can't help myself from reading the printed word. My husband says it's an addiction. Maybe.

My first love is books, but my nephew says I talk about books a lot on this blog, so I thought I'd share the five magazines that I'm enjoying these days. I don't necessarily subscribe to them but I usually like what I find.

1. Creating Keepsakes - I have subscribed off and on to this magazine since early 2000. I first saw it on the newsstand at the bookstore soon after I got the job. I've always been into handmade heirlooms, so I picked it up and a whole new world opened up. I loved Simple Scrapbooks more, but since it's gone now I've found things to love again about CK.
2. Mothering - I first heard about this magazine when my doula mentioned it to me soon after Abigail's birth. I wish I'd taken her suggestion then to subscribe, but a friend has started giving me her back issues on occasion (thanks, Abbey!). It's a much more gentle and calm parenting magazine than so many of the others out there and discusses issues I care about.
3. Mary Jane's Farm - I recently discovered this magazine in Borders or Tractor Supply or something and ordered a sample issue. It is what Mother Earth News can be, but without all the tractor articles. It's about farm life, but is open to urban farming. It's about hand-crafted goodness. It includes recipes and craft ideas. So fun.
4. Living Crafts - I've seen this magazine in JoAnn, and mentioned on several blogs. I haven't picked up a copy but I love thumbing through it. I keep looking for a craft I already know instead of one I have to learn. It's heavy on the knitting, which I'd love to learn but haven't. Once I find a good sewing project, though, I think it will be all over for me.
5. Family Fun - Actually, I want to put Wondertime here, but it was a victim of the economy (I guess). Family Fun has always been a great source of craft ideas and I enjoy finding features about creating fun playrooms. I really like their books with collected ideas too.

Bonus: Bitch Magazine: Feminist Response to Pop Culture - I've been reading this magazine since about 1997 when Ms. took a hiatus from publishing. I hesitate to write about it because the title sounds offensive, but it's meant in the sense of getting together to talk (and also in claiming offensive words) and get things off our chests. I enjoy the sense of fun this magazine has - it is about pop culture after all.